“Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surroundings, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance.”—Nikola Tesla

So it is. From amoeba to man,
out of the mire, up to the skies.
And so it is on a strange planet
orbiting a distant star.

The paradigmatic two eyes
crawl out of the indifferent water,
the wide lungs of a dinosaur,
the father, mother, son and daughter

of the first mammal in his jaws.
A billion years will likely pass
before they walk on their two feet,

a billion more if they amass
sharp tools and swords and written laws,
a billion more until we meet.